Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-24
LIVE STOCK NOTES.
The Superiority Of Sorghum as q Cat.
tie Feed Expaiiafed Upon by
q Practical Feeder.
A Northern stechman Thinks the Demand
fur Texas Cattle Will be Brisk
ia tho Spring.

Msny stockmen are preparing to feed
prickly pear to small buuches of cattle in
the vicinity of Pearsall, Frio county.
They are erecting small pear cutting ma
chimes that feed about 100 head, hand
power, which are said to be very useful
TO stockmen with only few cattle to
feed. Large numbers of the machines
are in course of construction.
80
Mr.. Robert Berry, who owns a large
ranch, stocked almost entirely with
graded shorthorn and Hereford cattle, in
the vicinity OF Cleburne, was in the city
yesterday. His policy now is to weed
ont all the bad stock he pos :eses, and to
replace them With better grades. to which
end he has obtained thoroughbred year
ling Hereford bull, Duke of Prosy, sire
Prosy, dam Princess of Poplar. The
animal was bought from the herd of Mr..
William Powell at Folks yards. Mr..
Berry has been for some years bringing
his cattle up to good grade and he eX-
poets this spring to have quite q number
of graded stock for the Texas market.
In answer to queries he said be
raises all the feed he needs on his
own place and has tried Learly every
kind Of grass raised in Texas-millet,
johnson grass, sorghum, and he grows
his own corn.
(Which kind Of crop hsve you found to
be most successful"
"Sorghum, without doubt. Not only
does 1t grow heavier crop, but cattle
like 1t better than any kind of fodder that
/ have grown. Then it is more nutIi
tious, and possesses more fattening prop
critics than anything 1 have tried. This
year cut my crop twice, and Ii has
grown up again knee-high."
"Some stockmen hold it unhealthy at
certain seasons
"lt may be, but l have allowed my cat
tie to feed on it at all times of the year,
and under all circumstances, and 1 have
never had reason to consider 1t other
than the best fodder that the stocknsn
can grow in Texas for his stock.''
Major 4. W. Hilliard of Pecos City,
one Of West Texas most prominent
stockmen, spent yesterday in Fort Worth.
He says stock in the west are in first
class condition, better than they have
been at this season in two years. They
have encountered no bad weather, and
unless the remainder of the winter is I'M
usually severe West Texas icattlemen
will come out in better fix In the spring
thsn they have done before in many years.
The Major is very much in favor of the
stock yards enterprise in Fort W orth,
which, he says, will be Of great benefit
toe, in fact necessity if the immense
cattle feeding business that in the course
of very few yesrs will be carried On in
the country Immediately ciIcumjscent to
Fort Worth. This year, ne says,
there were 10ee carloads of cattle shipped
into the feeding belt of North Texas for
feeding; next year the number will be
1000 or 5000, and in five years North Texas
will be the great feeding country of the
United States. The climate, soil, pro-
ducts are favorable to ii, and there is the
great breeding country right within the
borders of the state to furnish the stock.
La five years there will not be one head OF
csttIe shipped out Of the state for feeding.
They will all be raised from birth to ma
turity in Texas. What Major Hilliard
could not understand Hss why North and
Northeast Texas legislators were SO IN
favorable to the stock interests Of the
state for when it was al obvious fact that
that WAS to be the great industry of their
section OF the country for years to come.
~.
Mr.. G. B. Akard, Montrose, Col,
stockmsn, was in Fort Worth yesterday.
He comes down to buy up cattle to take
north. He thinks now is not only q time
to buy cheap, but the opportunities are
first class for realizing profits on invest
ments Of this sort. He was asked Whist
was likely to be the demand for Texas
cattle in the northwest next season. It
will be brisk, replied he. The losses
were very heavy in Moptans last year
and the ranches will have to be restocked,
and as very few c.ttle were brought in
there last spring, the stockmen will be
compelled to buy next spring. Mr.. Akard
said that stockmen in Colorado had al
most ceased sending cattle to Chicago
and Kansas City. The refrigerators at
Denver consume nearly all the stock
grown in Colorado, and some
of it goes to the Pscifis slope, which part
OF the country consumes great
many cattle at present. Arizona, Utah,
Colorado and New Mexico are all drawn
upon to supply the necessities OF the
coast country, for in the states bordering
thereon no cattle ars grown except for
dairy purposes, unfit for beef after being
used to good old age as mixers; and
the Californiane are said to be troubled
with palates which will tolerate nothing
but the best meat. Colorado, lying be-
tween the eastern and western markets,
has an opening In both directions, but
the Denver psckerles consume most of
the beef raised; indeed SO great is their
demand for certain kinds OF meat that
many cattle are brought from Utah to
supply it. Agents of these establishments
visit the stock country, and buy up the
stock SO eli the grower has to do is to
drive his cattle to the railway and draw
his money.